Dear Diary,

or should I say Dear Website,

I wish I had a little more time to devote to your design and upkeep. This template provided by WordPress is pretty restrictive and seems to regularly go down and require some advanced problem solving to get back up again.

I liked it more when I designed you from scratch myself. But of course I couldn’t figure out a way for people to leave comments. And since conversation on the web about ideas and music and art is one of the main things that atttracts me to it, I converted to the silly WordPress template.

For a while there I managed to have my music (both recordings and sheet music) online for people to share if they so desire. I think of it as cyber busking. 

But the last time WordPress locked me out of my own web site, I neglected to restore all of that. The files are still sitting on my server. It’s just that I have my hands full these days and haven’t taken the time to restore a sort of definitive list of my compositions and recordings. 

Ah well. 

Eileen has urged me to purchase my own copy of Dreamweaver so I could design you from the bottom up. But I just googled Dreamweaver and it seems to cost over 300.00 which is what I suspected. I have been offerred bootleg copies of it, but so far haven’t succumbed. Even if I had it, it’s a big program and I suspect it would take quite a bit of effort to figure out how to design a new web site and get it up on this domain. Maybe I’ll find a share ware equivalent this summer and fix this up. I would like to put up more music, maybe even some videos and a tip jar. Hah.

Anyway, yesterday ended up a bit busy. I needed down time but filled up my day off anyway. I called over to the Cottage where Dad is living and asked if I came over to play the piano, the person who vacuums on Monday could give me an hour’s respite. They said to come around 1:30 PM.

Right after I hung up, my Mom called and said she needed to get out of the apartment. I told her she was welcome to come over to my house and watch me fill the dishwasher. So she did. I fed her some moussaka (which by the way was much improved by Eileen’s suggestion to bake it some more). 

Then I took her back to the apartment and went over to the cottage and played piano for the elders. I was a bit late. I take my electric piano because there is no instrument there so it takes me some time to load the equipment and then unload and set up. I played two movements from a wonderful piano sonata by Mozart I have been working on (Sonata in Bb, K. 333, 1778). Then some WWII (that’s World War Two not Wheee) songs. But when I ended with hymns was when I was a bit hit. One of the wives of the elders broke out her CRC hymnal and asked me to play a hymn. I even had people singing along which is always fun. 

It crossed my mind that some local religious people might think it hypocritical of me to play hymns when I myself am a non-believer by their terms and much too open to humans who aren’t in their clubs.  I have even had readers of this blog freak out and condemn me for my ideas and lack of morals while I am a leader in a local church. Inconceivable to them that there are other coherent points of view than their own, I guess. 

I do see the possible contradiction. But it makes sense to me from the point of view of comforting those who are afflicted. Even though I don’t agree with their religious ideas, I have nothing against moving the air molecules around in ways that bring a smile to the lips of someone who is dying.

Dad was a bit more alert yesterday after two nights of drugged sleep. He smiled and snoozed while I played. I know when his mental faculties were better he was not too keen on the hymns of the conservative Christian church. But he, like me, was raised on them and probably finds thems vaguely comforting because they are familiar.

I rushed home and made Chicken and Rice for Eileen’s supper. That’s what we call it. I just googled the ingredients and couldn’t come up with a more elegant name. Eileen learned it from some friends from Kuwait. Basically you cook the chicken in turmeric (I baked it). Then saute chopped onions and turmeric.  Toss in garbanzo beans and heat. Serve with white rice and simple tomato sauce (I used tomato paste and water). It’s an amazingly simple blend that has its own unique taste and texture. And it’s easy for the vegetarian (me) to skip the chicken and still have a tasty meal. 

I couldn’t find a recipe for this so I did it from memory. Apparently it was right. Eileen remembers eating with her friends on the floor with newspapers spread around. At least that’s how I remember her describing it. 

Today I have a long day. I meet with Jonathan this morning to strategize and practice for the March 13th gig. Then take Mom to her shrink. After that a rehearsal with Jonathan and Kevin the drummer. From there to Grand Haven for a high school musical pit orchestra coaching session with the director and the students. Life goes on.